Where is everyone?

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So, this column was supposed to be a story about students celebrating the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series. Pictures of students congregating in lounge areas, doused in red and white.

But as I walked around campus Saturday night, there was nobody to be found. I mean this place was a ghost town.

I tried the LRH lounge, the lights were off and the TV was playing to nobody in particular.

In the Stars Lounge, I saw two or three students playing Xbox. Other than that I didn’t come across a single soul on campus.

Now to be fair, I did come from a campus where commuter students were at a minimum. Also the school I attended was not a 15-minute drive from the downtown area.

Before I was old enough to go downtown to the bars, we would hang out on campus. Whether it was playing catch on the quad or bags in the parking lot, we did something. When the cold came, we would retreat inside, but we would watch playoff baseball in the lounge or go to Buffalo Wild Wings.

The point is, we always did something. We made the best of it and I came from a school that was called one of the most apathetic in the country.

Springfield is full of cool stuff to do any night of the week. For those of you who are of age, the downtown bars are some of the best I’ve come across, and they’re much cheaper than the downtown area I came from.

But drinking isn’t everything on the weekends. There are several really cool shops and interesting restaurants to visit and lounge at. You can go bowling or hang out at parks around town.

As for the current location of UIS, even though it’s in the middle of a cornfield, there’s plenty of stuff to do. One recommendation, tape a flashlight to a Frisbee and try and complete the course around campus after dark.

I never see people lounging in the resident hall congregation areas or the Stars Lounge.

As I was walking around campus I noticed a lot of the campus housing parking was empty. I tried to tell myself that you were all out doing something elsewhere, but I knew what really happened. You all went back home to hang out with your high school friends.

Some of the most important lessons I learned in college were those I got in social situations with my friends at school. Now I might not be the best example, as I’ve cut myself off from everyone I attended high school with, but if they really are your friends, they can live without seeing you for a weekend or two in a row.